Upper material for shoes

ABSTRACT

1,219,433. Boots &amp;c. ONITSUKA CO. Ltd. 13 Aug., 1968 [29 Aug., 1967], No. 38577/68. Heading A3B. [Also in Division D1] An athletic shoe comprises an upper formed from woven or knitted elongate members made of rolled or folded synthetic resin film. The members can be of square or circular section and may be twisted. The resin can be polyamide or polyester. The shoe upper has good ventilation through the holes between the members, is not moisture-absorbent and is strong and stain resistant.

March 3, 1970 HIDEb HAYASHI 3,

UPPER MATERIAL FOR SHOES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 13. 1967 March 3, 1970 mos-o HAYASHI 3,497,971

UPPER IA'I'ERIAL FOR SHOES Filed Nov. 13. 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent UPPER MATERIAL FOR SHOES Hideo Hayashi, Kakogawa, Japan, assignor to Onitsuka Co., Ltd., Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan Filed Nov. 13, 1967, Ser. No. 682,213 Claims priority, application Japan, Aug. 29, 1967, 42/ 73,867 Int. Cl. A43b N02 US. Cl. 36-9 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An upper material for shoes is woven or knit of a string member. By rolling up a film sheet upon itself over and over, or by folding said film sheet into a number of layers, said string member is formed. Said film sheet is of a wide strip shape and of a rigid synthetic resin. For reinforcement, twist may be provided to the string member.

The present invention relates to improvements of an upper material for shoes, mainly for athletic shoes.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a hygienic upper material having high tensile strength, abrasion resistance, satisfactory ventilating qualities but no moisture-absorbent properties to thereby obtain shoes which are suitable for athletic use and comfortable to put Described further in detail, an object of the present invention is to provide a novel upper material woven or knit of string members which are made of rigid synthetic resin material such as polyamide resin, polyester resin or the like by forming said resin material into a rolled-up or folded structure having a number of layers whereby shoes, as above described, having durability and wearing comfort are to be obtained.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a portion of a film sheet made of a synthetic resin to be formed into an upper material in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing string members formed of the above-mentioned film sheet, a and [2 illustrating such members with no twist provided thereto, 0 showing said member with twist provided thereto;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged plan view showing a portion of an upper material woven or knit of said string member in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a side view in elevation showing an example of an athletic shoe constructed of an upper material in accordance with the present invention; and

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing an upper material of the present invention as cut into a desired shape for making the above-mentioned shoe.

Referring to the drawings, the structure and effects of the present invention will be described as follows.

A film sheet 1 to be formed into the upper material in accordance with the present invention is made of a rigid synthetic resin such as polyamide resin, polyester resin or the like in the form of a thin, wide strip. In order to obtain a thin string-like member said film sheet 1 is rolled up upon itself over and over (see FIG. 2a), or folded into a number of layers thereafter being compressed (see FIG. 2b), further, if desired, being suitably twisted (see FIG. 20), whereby a string member (a) is constructed. Therefore, it will readily be understood that not only because the abovementioned constituent film sheet 1 of a synthetic resin is of rigid property, but also because said string member (21) itself is formed by rolling up said sheet over and over, or by folding said sheet into a number of layers thereafter compression being applied thereon, the tensile strength of said string member (a) is enhanced and said member is made no longer readily breakable while the abrasion resistance thereof being markedly increased.

The upper material A in accordance with the present invention is knit or woven of the string members (a) having the above described structure. In a shoe made of the upper material A, ventilating apertures C provided by the meshes formed by the woven or knit string members are larger than those in the texture of already known woven or knit cloth, so that ventilation is satisfactorily effected, with perspiration and the like efficiently exhaled to the outside and without resulting in clogging-up of said apertures by perspiration, dust and the like substances mixed therewith. Permanent ventilation is thus provided to keep the shoe comfortable to wear. In a conventional fabric knit or woven in mesh, the strength of the fabric itself is extremely sacrificed in order to improve the ventilating qualities, and in addition, sand and dust passing through the ventilating apertures into the inside are liable to soil the foot or injure the sole, while on the other hand, shoes formed of the upper material A in accordance with the present invention are free of such defects.

Furthermore, the upper material a of the invention, being provided with no moisture absorbing qualities because of the structural reason, dries quickly when washed, and stains, without being fixed to the texture, are readily removed. By washing, accordingly, clean shoes with wearing comfort are always ready for use.

FIGS. 4 and 5 show an example of an athletic shoe made by utilizing the upper material A in accordance with the present invention. The athletic shoe B comprises a pair of upper members 2 and 2 and a backing member 3 which are formed by cutting said upper material A into a desired shape, a sole 4 of a suitable material to which said upper members 2 and 2 are integrally fastened by such means as by sewing or fusing, a toe cap reinforcing member 5 covering and reinforcing the seamed part in the toe cap portion of said upper members 2 and 2, side reinforcing members 6 ornamenting and stengthening the side portions of said upper members 2 and 2, and a counter reinforcing member 7 covering and strengthening the seamed part in the counter portion of said upper members. To the surrounding edge of the front opening 8 of the upper formed by said upper members 2 and 2 is integrally fixed a reinforcing sheet 10 which is provided with eyelets 9 therein.

In an athletic shoe having such construction, the upper members 2 and 2 are formed of the upper material A having -a specific structure as already detailed, so that, in addition to aforementioned advantages such as excellent ventilating and quick-drying qualities, wearing comfort and others, the shoe is, as a whole, provided with high tensile strength and relatively low elasticity. Therefore, when a fastening force is applied thereon by pulling a shoe lace passing through the eyelets 9 in the upper, said upper does not stretch in response to the fastening force. In this way the fastening force exerted by said shoe lace is fully effected thereby providing application of the shoe snug on the foot. Thus, the shoe in accordance with the present invention can be comfortably used in taking hard physical exercises attendant on racing, jumping or other athletic sports. Further in accordance with the present invention, by forming said string member in a thin structure as desired, said upper material woven or knit of said string member can be made with a desired thickness.

Although the present invention has been described as above with respect to a typical embodiment, the inventor 'does not wish to limit the invention only to the embodiment but the invention may also reside in all of the modifications and equivalents without departing from the spirit of the inventor.

What I claim is:

1. An athletic shoe having an upper, a sole, spikes provided on the back of the sole, and reinforcing members provided on the outer surfaces of the upper, the upper comprising a pair of half-upper members secured together, each half-upper member being woven fabric provided by warp string members and Weft string members woven by plane weave interlacing to provide ventilating apertures therebetween, each of said warp and weft string members being made of rigid synthetic resin film sheet rolled upon itself, said reinforcing members including a toe cap reinforcing member secured to the toe cap portion of said half-upper members, lateral side reinforcing members secured to side portions of the halfupper members, and a counter reinforcing member secured to the counter portions of said half-upper members.

2. The shoe of claim 1 in which. said rolled synthetic References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,082,309 1/1937 Turiansky 363 2,603,891 7/1952 Cohn 36-9 2,721,811 10/1955 Dacey et a1 369 2,806,300 9/1957 Morgan et a1 362.5 3,224,117 12/1965 Dassler 362.5

PATRICK D. LAWSON, Primary Examiner 

